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Comment: Allan Massie: Rebel with a cause for contemplation

It was all but certain that George Galloway would be expelled from the Labour party. His fate was written back in April when Tony Blair told The Sun that Mr Galloway’s comments made on Abu Dhabi TV were “disgraceful and wrong”, pledging that the National Executive “will deal with it”. Only one thing might have restrained Labour from throwing him out: the fear that he would cause more trouble out than in.

And that may yet come to pass. He is not, after all, without support, both among politicians and the electorate. Labour veterans such as Tony Benn and Alice Mahon have spoken up for him, Mahon calling the expulsion “stupid”. Indeed Galloway’s claim last week that Blair should be mindful of the fact that he speaks for a “considerable number of people” has a ring of truth.